Nearly 75 percent of individuals diagnosed with AIDS experience eye symptoms at some point in their illness. AIDS, destroys the body's immune system, is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 18,000 American die each year from AIDS. Because HIV weakens the body's immune system, AIDS patients are highly susceptible to a wide variety of infections and other diseases.
Cloudy Spots
Cotton-wool spots are small, white, cloudy spots that appear on the retina of the eye. The spots are caused by small hemorrhages in fibers of the optic nerve. Although cotton-wool spots signify that AIDS is increasing in severity, the spots do not always affect a patient's vision and usually do not require treatment or medication. The spots fade in time but may reappear as the disease progresses.
Eye Lesions
Kaposi's sarcoma is a type of cancer in which abnormal skin lesions grow around the skin surrounding the eyes or along the outer membrane of the eyes. Kaposi's sarcoma is extremely rare and almost exclusively limited to AIDS patients. The lesions are normally red and purple in color and can be quite painful. AIDS medications can help shrink the lesions but do not cure Kaposi's sarcoma.
Corneal Ulcers
A corneal ulcer is an open sore on the cornea of the eye, located on top of the iris. An AIDS patient with a corneal ulcer may experience eye pain, discharge from the eye and blurred vision. The area surrounding the eye may be swollen, and the ulcer may be visible to the naked eye, depending on size. Depending on its severity and size, a physician may treat an eye ulcer with medication or surgery.
Blindness
Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is a member of the herpes virus and one of the most serious ophthalmological diseases that affect AIDS patients. It is an infectious disease for which there is no cure. The disease can attack any organ of the body, including the brain. But when it attacks the eyes, the result most often is blindness. At one time, CMV infected one-third of all AIDS patients. In the December 2007 issue of Public Library of Science Medicine, Dr. David Heiden wrote that improved HIV medications have largely eliminated CMV in the developed world.
References
- CDC: HIV and AIDS in the U.S.
- "Public Library of Science Medicine"; Cytomegalovirus Retinitis: The Neglected Disease of the AIDS Pandemic; David Heiden, M.D.; December 2007
- "BMC Cancer"; Kaposi Sarcoma in Unusual Locations;Liron Pantanowitz, M.D.; July 2008
